3 Tips for Work Life Balance

As a career driven human-being I often find it hard to balance my personal life and work life. In fact, sometimes I find my work life spilling over into my time with friends or family. Not just in the way of checking emails, or taking phone calls, but even just having discussions about work. It can be so easy to pour everything you have into pursuing your passion or even just pursing “success”- and when you’re at work you absolutely should! That’s your job! Outside of work though, it’s important to focus on other parts of life that bring you beauty and joy.

Even when you love what you do, you can only cope with so much of the same thing until you burn out. Or, even worse, until you burn the people you love. Fortunately, you can take steps to create balance and to create a more fulfilling life.

Stay off Your Email

Emails can be draining even within you job. I know that I’ve been guilty of checking my email every few minutes to make sure I wasn’t missing everything, but guess what? If someone has something that’s truly time sensitive they will CALL you. So, don’t feel like you need to be constantly occupied with the emails on you iPhone. Turn off your email notification and check your emails during working hours.

Don’t’ Talk Work Outside Of Work

Now I’m not saying you can’t ever talk about work outside of work, but limit the time you do, especially with your significant other. The purpose of your relationships with your family, friends and significant other shouldn’t be focused around your job. I know work can be exciting- but so can art, movies, board games, or even talking politics (if that’s what you’re into).

If you struggle with only talking about work, try setting aside a time to do so, maybe 15 minutes. Then, no more work talk. If you’re used to only talking about work, it might be challenging to come up with things to talk about at first… but that’s a good thing! It means you’ll need to develop new topics and passions to talk about. People who are not your business associates shouldn’t be treated like them!

Schedule out Your Downtime

A lot of people get so caught up in work that it becomes their identity. Some get to a point where they don’t even know who they are without their work. Don’t let that be you, there’s so much more to life than just work. Life should be multifaceted.

I know when I started working as a blogger I lost touch with the things that made me happy outside of work. In high school and college I was a classically trained musician, loved theater and attending art events. I also was an adrenaline, outdoor adventure and travel junkie. When I started working all the time I lost my ability and interest in pursuing anything else. This year I vowed to only work 8 hour days and give myself vacation days and I’m rediscovering a lot of the things that made me happy. And guess what? I really am happier. In addition, I’m discovering new things that are helping me grow as a person. What are you missing out on because you’re so tied to your job? Remember that your free time is important for your overall health and happiness, so create it, and then spend it well.

You now officially have three steps to create a better work life balance. So what are you waiting for? You deserve to have a full and beautiful life, and that comes when we don’t tie ourselves to our career.